


Keep Your Head Up

by Liz_isa_fangirl



Series: Fall and Rise AU [1]
Category: Disney - All Media Types, Disney Cartoons (Classic), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), Epic Mickey, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Disney Bros, Fall and Rise AU by Starswirlblitz, Family Feels, Gen, Magic-Users, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 13:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18053720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liz_isa_fangirl/pseuds/Liz_isa_fangirl
Summary: “I want to hate you.”“You don’t mean that. You’re my brother, you don’t mean that.”**





	1. Fight

 

“ _ Why can’t you ever be second for once in your life? _ ” 

 

Those are clearly tears streaming down his older brother’s face and it’s such a harrowing site that Mickey wants to throw up. He wants to reach out and hug him, but he knows that Oswald wouldn’t let him; it’s a miracle that he’s even letting Mickey stand so close now.

 

“Why do you have to be the one in the spotlight, the one everyone  _ loves _ .”

 

The word ‘love’ is spit out hideously, it’s pronunciation jarring, like cutting open a wound and rubbing salt in it. Oswald’s voice had caught on the word ‘everyone’. It was an almost minuscule stutter but he knows his brother and so he did catch it. He knows what it means.

 

It means Walt and Ub more than anything, because Oswald had always tried to be someone they wanted him to be.  But apparently, no matter how hard he tried, Oswald had apparently failed and so of course,  _ of course, they had looked to him.  _

 

Never in his life had he wanted to commit regicide than the day his father had brushed past his brother, in favor of him. That had been in his father’s own unorthodox way of declaring him his successor. The favorite. 

 

An imposter. 

 

Oswald looks at him the same way he did in those few moments, except there’s no father to rebuke or yell at for being so dense; there’s no room to run to — to run out of — where he can just go and disappear for a few hours. Mickey knows there’s no reassurance between brothers after this, not if he messes this up.

 

Mickey doesn’t know what to with his hands, so he lets them flop down to his side. 

 

“I— I don’t mean to be. I  _ never _ meant to be.”

 

Oswald scoffs and his magic, blue as the ocean on destiny islands, wraps around him. Electricity arcs the air, a warning —  _ stay away  _ — and Oswald’s fists are clenched so hard that Mickey’s sure he’s going to break the skin.

 

“I want to hate you.” It’s a punch to the gut. Oswald’s eyes are glowing. 

 

“You don’t mean that. You’re my brother, you  _ don’t _ mean that.” 

 

Mickey’s green magic flares up defensively, slithering out and into the ground. Wherever it touches down, the color is drained and the surrounding plant life begins to die.

 

He doesn’t strike first. He can’t.

 

“Oswald, we don’t have to fight. Please.”

 

“Says you.” Oswald snaps his fingers and all hell breaks loose.


	2. Childhood

“Please sir, we’re sorry sir, h-he — I — we needed the—”

 

“ _I need to hear it from him._ ”

 

The guard looming over them clearly has his head up his ass, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He almost can’t say the words.

 

He has to.

 

“Mickey. Apologize.”

 

His younger brother looks at him incredulously and Oswald is filled with disgust at having to admit to the knucklehead standing before them — _who is clearly lacking several brain cells, if he’s harassing two street kids with no money_ — that he and his brother are in the wrong.

 

It’s not their fault they don’t have any food. It’s not his fault he had to sneak into the restaurant and he had to take some already stale food; Mickey had done it, because Oswald has told him to do it. Mickey had lost rock, paper, ax handle fair and square and so it was Mickey who snuck into the kitchen.

Mickey who got caught. 

Mickey who is stubbornly refusing to apologize.

 

The guard steps closer and eyes Mickey. He’s got a hand on his sword. Oswald panics.

 

 _“Mickey_.”

 

“ _Oswald._ ”

 

In one fell swoop, the man suddenly steps forward. He moves so fast Oswald doesn’t have enough time to react. When the man picks his brother up, Oswald sees red. The guard is running his stupid mouth; the look of hatred he shoots at Mickey is enough to curdle milk.

 

“We need to keep _vermin_ like you away from the people. In fact—”

 

There’s a sword in his little brother’s face. _His little brother is in danger_.

 

The lightning strike levels the guard in one blow. Oswald sees blue; in fact it’s all he can see for several moments.

 

It’s suffocating.

 

It’s intoxicating.

 

He can hear the man screaming but Mickey doesn't say anything so it must be alright.

 

**

 

The scars running up Oswald's arms and back don’t hurt anymore.

 

**

 

Oswald may have knocked the man out but it was Mickey who got rid of the body. 

 

It'd been easy; all he had to was press his hand to the man's forehead and his magic took care of the rest; of course it did. As the acid green magic pours from his hands (and a little out of his nose) he can feel the familiar burn settle in. He doesn't whimper or cry, not even when the tips of his fingers begin to melt off. The man's body is gone within seconds, the only sign he had ever been there being the dark mottled spot where he had fallen.

 

Oswald takes Mickey's hands and heals the damage as best he can. He doesn't bring up the fact that his brother just dissolved a man before his very eyes. 

At least no one would bother them now.

**

Mickey cries into his arms that night, his entire body shaking and breathing coming in horrible stunted puffs. It’s all Oswald can do is hug him and hold him close.

 

They don’t sleep much that night or the next. They didn’t really sleep at all until King Ub found them. 

But that’s a story for another day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scars Oswald mentions is Lichtenburg scars. The brother's respective powers are  
> Oswald - Paint and Lightning magic  
> Mickey - Thinner magic

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on starswirlblitz's rise and fall au on tumblr. The summary for this fic is from Champion by Barns Courtney, with the lyrics changed a bit.


End file.
